Can The Labor Unions Adapt?

WASHINGTON — With union membership in the United States having dropped below 20 percent of the labor force in 1984 (to 18.8 percent), it is an odd time to talk about a ``new day`` for the American trade union movement. But future historians may see the winter of 1985 as a turning point.

At the meeting of the AFL-CIO executive council in Bal Harbour at the end of February, the labor leaders approved and issued a report, ``The Changing Situation of Workers and Their Unions,`` that clearly suggests a shift of direction--and almost of fundamental attitude--for the labor movement.

The report has significance, not only for workers and employers, but for anyone interested in the future of American politics. For people my age, at least, it is impossible to imagine a strong current of liberal politics in this country without a strong labor movement.

As unions have declined in membership strength and political clout, so has the Democratic Party. If you believe that labor is doomed to inevitable decline as the American economy shifts from the heavily unionized

manufacturing industries, such as autos and steel, into the much-less-unionized service and communications and high-tech jobs, then you almost have to conclude that liberal politics and the Democratic Party are on a similar downward path.

For reasons clearly argued in an article by James Fallows in the current Atlantic Monthly magazine, the sweep of American history, to say nothing of common sense, dictates that the changes in our economy be accepted and welcomed as the real engines of opportunity and progress.

The union movement has been seen by many people, including some of its allies in the Democratic Party and liberal politics, as fighting a rear-guard action against economic and social change--as being more worried about protecting past gains than in helping its people prepare for the future.

In the largest sense, the AFL-CIO report is a declaration by labor`s top leadership that they are ready to tackle that future. It is a remarkable document.

Starting with the blunt declaration that ``unions find themselves behind the pace of change,`` it documents the growing gap between the perceived positions of union leaders and the desires of the rapidly changing work force where, as the report says, people ``are less likely to see work as a straight economic transaction . . . and more likely to see it as a means of self-expression and self-development.``

Candidly citing survey findings that a majority of nonunion workers believe union leaders force members to accept decisions they don`t like, including strike decisions, and that unions stifle individual initiative, fight change and increase the risk of companies going out of business, the report says: ``It is apparent . . . that the labor movement must demonstrate that union representation is the best available means for working people to express their individuality on the job and their desire to control their own working lives, and that unions are democratic institutions controlled by their members, and that we have not been sufficiently successful on either score.`` The report is optimistic about the ability of unions to adapt. The reasons may surprise you as much as they did me.

The most important of those reasons is that unions are middle-class institutions and are still a ticket to the middle class. Union workers earn one-third more than their nonunion counterparts, the report says. They recruit best among the elements that are growing fastest in the work force, especially the better-educated.

Only 26 percent of union members (compared with 28 percent of the general population) lack a high school diploma. Some 21 percent of union members

(compared with 16 percent of the general population) have college degrees. If the future of work is in white-collar jobs, unions are well-positioned. They already represent more white-collar than blue-collar workers--41 percent to 36 percent.

How successful the unions will be in organizing the new work force depends critically on the labor laws. That is one reason the unions will stay in politics. And that is another reason everyone has a stake in their effort to adapt to changing times.